Report: Tom Brady retires from NFL after 22 seasons

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Seven Super Bowl titles could be the end of the line for Tom Brady.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, months away from his 45th birthday, reportedly is retiring from football after 22 seasons, 10 Super Bowl appearances, 15 Pro Bowls, three MVP awards and countless other records. ESPN's Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington reported the news on Saturday.

Despite the ESPN report, word began to circulate that Brady had no in fact made a decision just yet. His father told KRON4 News' Kylen Mills that the rumor was "unsubstantiated." The Athletic's Jeff Howe later reported that Brady called the Bucs and told them he was "not even close close" to making a decision yet.

Brady, who spent the first 20 years of his career with the New England Patriots, had said for years that he planned on playing until he was 45.

Brady, who turns 45 on Aug. 3, has already outlasted every player from his own draft class in 2000, when he was drafted 199th overall by the Patriots in Bill Belichick’s first season. He’s also outlasted every player drafted in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

Brady led the league in both passing yards (5,316) and passing touchdowns (43) in 2021, the second time in his career he's led the NFL in both categories in the same season (2007).

A member of the Hall of Fame all-decades teams from both the 2000s and 2010s, Brady retires as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards (84,520), passing touchdowns (624) and completed passes (7,263). Brady retires after 47 career playoff games, most all-time and 15 more than the next-closest player in former Patriots teammate Adam Vinatieri. His 318 regular season appearances are seventh-most all-time.

Brady had been attempting to lead the Buccaneers to back-to-back Super Bowl titles, something no team had accomplished since Brady’s Patriots in 2003-04.

Over 285 appearances with New England, including 283 starts, Brady went 219-64, plus 30-11 in the postseason and 6-3 in Super Bowls. He won MVP honors with the Patriots in 2007, 2010 and 2017, though didn't win the Super Bowl in any of those seasons. Brady was MVP in Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX and LI with New England and LV in Tampa Bay.

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